Pickup trucks are used to transport a variety of cargo carried in the bed of the pickup truck. Generally, cargo may be in a container such as a box or crate or the cargo may be loose materials such as wood, rocks, gravel, or tools, for example. Such cargo, when loaded, transported, or removed from the truck may scratch, dent, or otherwise damage the bed, the walls and the painted finish of the pickup truck. For pickup trucks which are primarily used for cargo hauling, such wear and tear damage may be accepted as a minor consequence for using the vehicle for its intended purposes. Recently however, pickup trucks have become more popular as general purpose transportation vehicles. These owners (as well as some using the trucks for routine cargo handling duties) have sought to avoid scratching, denting, or otherwise damaging the pickup truck bed and its painted finish.
To reduce or eliminate such damage caused by transporting cargo, pickup truck owners have used a liner to protect the bed and walls from dents and nicks and to avoid scratching or scarring the finish. U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,439 describes a molded flexible rubber sheet for lining and protecting pickup truck beds. Grooves in the underside of the liner permit side flaps, a front flap, and a rear flap, to fold vertically against the walls of the truck bed and the tailgate. Molded markings indicate where the liner should be cut to accomodate wheel wells.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,508 describes a plywood kit for lining the inside of a pickup truck bed. The kit includes side panel liner sheets, a pair of wheel well liner boxes, a floor liner, a front liner, and a tailgate liner. The sheets are secured together by conventional screws, bolts or other connecting devices with a minimum of holes formed on the truck body itself.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,396,219 describes a liner kit having panels made of shock absorbant material molded to conform to the sidewall cavity, to the front panel, and the floor of the vehicle bed. Metal plates are secured to the surface of the shock absorbant material. The assembled panels are then installed and connected together within the vehicle carrier bed by suitable adhesives.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,911,253 describes an automobile trunk liner made of fabric in a cruciform shape when spread out flat. The liner attaches to the trunk with clamp hooks which are riveted to the free edges of the side and front flaps.
Such previously known liners resist cargo damage to pickup truck beds, but various drawbacks and problems with these liners restrict their use. For instance, a pickup truck owner using the truck occasionally for carrying cargo may not want the truck bed covered with a permanent liner. A removable liner however may be an expensive investment and must be stored between uses. Storing the liner in the truck, such as behind the seat, maximizes the convenient availability of the liner. Plastic liners as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,439 are difficult to fold and require rolling. These heavy liners when rolled, occupy a large volume of space for storage. It is not convenient or practical to store a rolled liner behind the seat of the truck. Also, the liner when installed, must be cut to fit around the wheel well in a truck bed. Such cutouts are difficult to make accurately and some surface of the truck bed is thereby exposed to the cargo.
A liner manufactured of wood also has drawbacks. A wood liner adds significant additional weight to the truck and reduces the carrying capacity of the truck. Materials and installation costs make wood liners relatively expensive. A number of different sizes and shapes would be necessary because of the differences between trucks made by different manufacturers or even differences in a particular model one year to the next. Further, wood absorbs spilled fluids. Subsequent cargos may then be contaminated or otherwise spoiled by the previously spilled fluids. Being made from a number of large panels and several boxshaped wheel well covers, the liner itself would occupy a large amount of storage space and would be difficult to install. These problems require that the wooden liner be installed and left on the truck. A wooden liner would not be satisfactory for an owner having a pickup truck for casual use and for only occasionally carrying cargo. The wooden liner protects the finish and surface of the bed, but also hides the surface from view.
Liners which are molded from a shock absorbant material would be lighter than the wooden panels discussed above but still decrease the cargo-carrying volume of the truck. As with the wooden liner, different shapes and sizes would be necessary for each different style of truck bed. Such lack of standardization increases the cost of the liner because the manufacturers and suppliers have to maintain a large inventory of parts for these different styles and sizes of truck beds. Further, the liner kit made from shock absorbant material is glued on the truck with adhesive. This results in a permanent installation on the truck bed and hides the bed surface from view.
A fabric liner also fails to overcome the disadvantages of the other liners. Cargo with sharp edges would easily cut through the fabric and cause the liner to tear. A torn liner does not protect the finish or walls of the bed. Nor does a fabric liner provide a cushioning effect to the cargo being carried by the pickup truck.
Thus, there exists a need in the art for an inexpensive, disposable liner for a pickup truck bed that is free of the problems typically associated with previously known bed liners.